I really enjoy taking the family to the movies every now and then. With as many of us as there are, it ends up being expensive, so we try to take advantage of discount days, rack up points, share popcorn, and bring treats from home (okay, I know I shouldn’t say that, but it’s the truth!).
On our last trip, a friend’s family joined us. So there were 10 of us in total—4 adults and 6 kids (ages 6 to 17). Our group took up almost an entire row. We love superhero movies, so we chose a 3D showing. Since the movie had been out for a few weeks, the theater was almost empty, and we were the first to arrive, so we had the privilege of picking our favorite seats.
The few people who arrived afterward settled in here and there, scattered throughout the theater. Five or six older people took their seats in the center of the row in front of us. We handed out bags of popcorn to our kids, making sure to sprinkle their choice of seasoning on top. Once the lights in the theater went out and we had our 3D glasses on, we spent a pleasant 2 hours and 20 minutes, with one or two refills of their popcorn bags along the way.
As the end credits rolled, we were quietly getting ready to leave when suddenly I realized that my boyfriend and my 17-year-old daughter were talking to one of the ladies in the row in front of us. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on. It turned out that my boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter had tripped over the woman’s seat while trying to put on her coat. The woman started yelling at her and accusing her of pushing her seat during the movie. I’ll spare you the details, but basically she was telling us that we shouldn’t take the little one to the movies and that she’d had three much better-behaved children!
I was disheartened by the situation, disheartened by this woman’s intolerance, and disheartened to hear her comments directed at our family—a family she didn’t even know. Yes, there are kids who are rowdy or disruptive, but that wasn’t even the case here. Maybe our little one accidentally brushed against the woman’s seat during the movie, but did that really warrant such a freak-out? Maybe it’s this woman who doesn’t belong at the movie theater…